Modern Romance Collection: December Books 5 - 8. Julia James
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frightened, and I knew I had to fend for myself long before she died.’
‘And your father? Did you ever meet him?’
‘He turned up one night,’ Luca recollected. He huffed a short, humourless laugh. ‘My mother’s colleagues pelted him with rotten fruit and worse. I remember him standing on the street, shouting up at her open window. I remember his angry voice, and his soiled white shirt and the glint of his gold earrings.’
‘He doesn’t sound very nice.’
He shrugged. ‘Who knows?’
‘And now you’re a prince with a country to rule and a palace to live in. It must all seem quite incredible, even now?’
‘No. It seems right,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘If there was luck involved, it was that I met the Prince, the best of men, and a man who changed my life. Though even that wasn’t as simple as it sounds,’ he admitted. ‘After everything I’d seen, I wasn’t easily impressed—not even by the Prince of Fabrizio.’
‘How did he persuade you to leave the streets and come to live with him?’
‘He was a patient man,’ Luca said, thinking back. ‘From the moment he found me stealing food from the bins and the buffet table during his royal visit to the Coliseum, he was determined to save me. He told me this years later.’
‘What did he do about your stealing?’ Callie asked as he shipped the oars.
‘He asked his attendant to find me a shopping bag, so I didn’t have to hide my hoard down my shirt.’
‘Cool,’ she said, smiling.
‘Oh, he was that,’ he agreed as he sprang onto the shore to moor up.
She placed her hands in his as he helped her onto the dock. He wanted to take her right there. Throw her down on the cool wood and make love to her until she didn’t have the strength to stand, but delay was its own reward.
It was just a small island. She could probably walk around it in ten minutes, Callie thought. The grass was cool and green, and felt lush and thick beneath her naked feet. Picking up the hem of her dress, she stared around. The clustering trees were lit with thousands of tiny lights in celebration of the ball. And then she saw the gazebo he’d talked about ahead of them. ‘Is this where you used to come and sulk?’ she asked.
‘How did you guess?’
As he swung around to face her, the pulsing heat of desire surged through her. ‘I’ve been a teenager too.’
He laughed and held out his hands. She felt so safe and warm when he took hold of her, and Luca’s kisses were always a drugging seduction. They seemed even more so here on this magical island. Just occasionally, fairy tales did come true. She wanted to believe it so badly as he kissed her again. She’d spent so much of her life bottling up emotion, but Luca knew how to set it free, and as his kisses grew more heated she knew she would take any and every chance to hold onto happiness.
He swung her off her feet and strode quickly to the entrance to the gazebo. Lowering her down, he steadied her and then pressed her back against the wooden structure. Caging her with his arms either side of her face, he brushed his lips against her mouth and smiled. It was the most romantic moment, but if she’d written the fairy tale herself she could never have predicted what he’d say next. ‘Marry me, Callie. Marry me and become my Princess.’
At first she thought she was imagining it, and it was all a dream, until Luca repeated softly, ‘Marry me, Callie.’
She stared into his eyes, struggling to compute what he’d said. Embarrassed, uncertain, she resorted to teasing him. ‘Shouldn’t you be down on your knees? Or, one of them, at least?’
‘I need an answer,’ Luca said, refusing to respond to her lighter tone. ‘Just a straight yes or no will do. Or are you playing for time?’
‘No,’ she argued. ‘I’m playing for the highest of stakes of all. I’m playing for my heart, and for the future of our child.’
‘Then, marriage makes perfect sense,’ he insisted.
‘Does it?’ She frowned.
‘You know it does.’
Smiling into her eyes, he kissed her again, and because she wanted him she was foolish enough to believe in the fairy tale for now.
‘TRUST ME,’ LUCA said as he took her slow and deep. They had been making love on the soft cushions in the gazebo for what felt like hours. ‘Trust me,’ he said again as he soothed her down.
‘Shouldn’t you get back to the ball?’ she asked. She was snuggled up tightly against Luca, whose protective arms wrapped securely around her.
‘If you’re ready, we’ll go back,’ he murmured as he planted a kiss on the top of her head.
‘Bathe in the lake first?’ she suggested.
They swam, then dried off together, and Callie dressed quickly, thanking her lucky stars she had short hair that didn’t take long to dry in the warm night air. Slipping her simple dress on, she took hold of Luca’s hand and they walked back to the boat; back to reality, she thought, but if he could carry this off—their absence would have been noted—then so could she.
* * *
‘My lords, ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make...’
Silence fell the instant Luca’s deep and distinctive voice was heard through the hidden speakers in the ballroom. ‘I realise the clock is about to strike midnight, so I won’t keep you long.’
A ripple of laughter greeted this remark.
‘I’m taking this opportunity to introduce you to the woman I intend to marry.’
Not the woman he loved, Callie thought, cursing herself for being such a doubter. Luca had to wait a moment until the exclamations of surprise had died down.
‘Signorina Callista Smith is an exceptional woman, whom I am lucky to have found.’
As he beckoned Callie forward and she joined him in the centre of the ballroom, the surprise of the sophisticated onlookers gradually turned to muted applause. They were shocked to the heels of their highly polished footwear, she thought as Luca lifted his hands for a silence that had already fallen deep and long.
‘It goes without saying,’ he added, ‘that all of you will receive an invitation to our wedding.’ He gave a fierce, encouraging smile into Callie’s eyes, before turning back to address his riveted audience. ‘I invite you all to enjoy the rest of your evening, while I continue to celebrate with my beautiful fiancée.’
As if by magic the orchestra struck up a romantic Viennese waltz, which allowed Luca to prove that not only could he sweep Callie off her feet, but he could provide the prompt necessary to shake everyone out of their stupefied trance, and soon the dance floor was ablaze with colour and the flash of precious jewels.
Callie told herself that everything would work out. Yes, there would be problems, but they’d get through them. Luca was right. This was the best solution. It was only when the clock struck midnight, and he was briefly distracted by one of the many ambassadors present, that everything changed.
She’d seen pictures of Max in various magazines back home. In the flesh, he was even more striking. As tall as Luca, he looked quite different, which was only to be expected when they weren’t related by blood. Where Luca’s features were rugged and sexy, Max’s face was thin and hard, and, quite unlike Luca, Max’s manner was unpleasantly autocratic.
Dressed entirely in black, his blood-red sash of office the only bright thing about him, Max was the haughtiest man in the room by far. And he was heading her way surrounded by cronies, all of whom were viewing